An important prop in the play “Arcadia”, by Tom Stoppard , is the tortoise used by Septimus and Valentine in several scenes throughout the play. This play would be in a black box theater with arena seating. The time period is in both the early 19th century an present day and in England. Tortoises are land-dwelling reptiles that have been around since the dinosaurs, some 300 million years ago. There is a large variety of tortoise species. Ranging from the giant tortoise that weighs over 919 lbs and can live for over 150 years, to the speckled tortoise that weighs 95 grams. Each species has identifiable characteristics that allow us to decide which to select for the play. This decision also has to take into consideration the time period, location, socioeconomic status, budget, and care of the animal all at once. It may even be more appropriate to select a prop instead of an actual animal depending on where the audience is located. The authenticity of each prop needs to be carefully considered in order to make the play seem realistic. For this play we would need a small tortoise species that can live with other tortoises, doesn’t mind being handled, and doesn’t require too much space. The Russian Tortoise is a popular pet and is the …show more content…
While this species is easily identifiable by its size it also has a high domed, golden colored shell with two triangular markings on the bottom which becomes more pronounced with age. This species is found on the Southern border of the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, and the Middle East. They come from harsh hot and dry desert habitats and typically only do well when kept in constantly warm conditions. While the small size would be ideal these tortoises are more expensive and have only recently been introduced to the pet trade industry so it is unlikely they would be found in England 200 years
Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus can be argued that it is related loosely to Rita Dove's The Darker Face of the Earth. This comparative and contrasting characteristics that can be seen within both plays make the reader/audience more aware of imagery, the major characters, plot, attitudes towards women, and themes that are presented from two very different standpoints. The authors Sophocles and Dove both have a specific goal in mind when writing the two plays. In this paper I will take a closer look of the two, comparing and contrasting the plays with the various elements mentioned previously.
Works Cited "Animal Planet" Animal Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 09 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
Kendall, Jodi. (n.d.) Wild at Home: Exotic Anmals as Pets. National Geographic. Retrieved March 5th 2014, from http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/animal-intervention/articles/wild-at-home-exotic-animals-as-pets/
At the start of the play (first staged in 1998) is a good place to see how classical literature is treated, when Charon makes his reference to Aristophanes quite clear. Stoppard does not spell it out, but gives enough information to allow the audience to make an educated guess that he is referring to an ancient play.... ... middle of paper ... ... 1/2 (Autumn, 2002), pp.
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing the fall production of Argonautika at the Westmont High School Theater directed by Jeff Bengford and written by Mary Zimmerman. Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Argonautika carefully selects which pieces of a Greek story to emphasize, where to begin and end the story, and which characters to feature. Argonautika is very much an ensemble piece, with every actor standing out in multiple roles. Her version focuses on Jason and Medea and begins with an invocation by the chorus that summarizes the story of Helle and Phrixus. The last showing on November 21st of Argonautika by the Westmont High School Performing Arts Department, was exciting beginning to end. Bengford’s production Argonautika greatly captures the intentions of Mary Zimmerman’s playwright into an exciting play for the audience.
Jonson's Volpone, or The Fox is almost exactly contemporary with Shakespeare's Othello and contains aspects that some might view as its comic counterpart. Venetian corruption and the insidious influence of a mincing, unscrupulous servant are themes common to both plays. What, though, has this play to communicate to us? Themes of corruption and materialism, resulting in a misanthropic view of the world, might have been telling in seventeenth-century England, but it is of course extremely difficult to construe them as relevant to the world of today..
Torvald is the typical husband of the time of the play. He tries to control his wife and expect her to submit to him. He manipulates her through many different ways. First, he calls her pet names such as "little lark" (3) and "squirrel" (4) and speaks to her in a condescending tone, as if she is a child. He then tries to control her habits so he will not let her eat sweets or spend too much money. In fact, all the money she gets comes from him. He demands that she is subservient and treats her as almost a dog later on in the play. At the end, when Nora's secret is out, he lashes out at her and kicks her out of the house. When he wants her back after he realizes that he will no longer get into trouble for what she did, she does not want to come back, he finally realizes that she does not love him anymore and that his manipulation of her is over. This leaves him in a pickle because he now has to take care of his children without Nora, hardly a good position for him.
...haracteristics, but in the incongruity of this "mortal grossness", the grotesque, earthy and plain-speaking Bottom, and the beautiful, airy, eloquent and possibly dangerous fairy queen. The "bank whereon the wild thyme blows" and the beautiful fairy song "Philomel with lullaby", as well as the dainty morsels offered by Titania's servants - it is difficult to imagine a more alien creature to all this, than Bottom. We laugh at his ineptitude, at the incongruity of the situation, at the blatant illustration of the gulf between "reason and love"; we are disturbed by the indignity Titania undergoes, alarmed by the danger Bottom may be in, but reassured by his taking it in his stride.
The exhibition I am designing uses a method of comparison, comparing real animals to mythical creatures. The intent is to arouse the imagination of the visitors in his or her personal journey of discovery, connecting with the real world to mythical creatures. Throughout my exhibition I will be providing detailed information of the real and mythical creatures. including where they are commonly found and live, their origin, and their physical attributes. giving audiences of all age groups a better understanding of the bizarre, powerful, and brave.
Night." eNotes to Twelfth Night. Seattle: Enotes.com LLC, October 2002. Ed. Penny Satoris. 20 February 2005 .
Ibsen has Torvald call his wife "his little lark" or "sulking squirrel" (Wilke 1139) among other animal names throughout the play. Most of the time, he uses bird imagery. The choice of animals that Ibsen uses relate to how Nora acts or how the audience or reader should portray her character.
Torvald Helmer is the stereotypical Nineteenth-century husband, as he is a controlling, condescending patriarch. By referring to his wife with diminutive names, Torvald propagates the "women are lesser that men" stereotype and keeps his wife in a position of subservience. In line 11 of the first act, we come across the first instance of Torvald's bird references to Nora with "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" This reference is the first of many in which Torvald refers to Nora as a lark. Often this referencing is preceded by diminutive terms such as "little" and "sweet, little." Torvald also refers to Nora as a squirrel, a spendthrift, a songbird, and a goose, these terms also preceded with a diminutive. The significance of th...
Against the beautiful lyric and exotic account of the changeling's pregnant mother we have the homely jollity of Puck's pranks on the "fat and bean-fed horse" or "wisest aunt". Oberon gives us many set-piece descriptions: of the "bank whereon the wild thyme blows", of the "fair vestal" whom Cupid's bolt failed to hit, and of Titania's "seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool" (Bottom), among others. Here Shakespeare shows us what can be done "in this kind", lest the failure of Pyramus and Thisbe lead us to the conclusion that the theatre can only depict what can literally be brought on stage. In watching a play filled with references to moonlight, darkness, day-break we do well to recall that it was first performed in open-air theatres in daylight!
Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.
Aristophanes. "Lysistrata." Trans. Dudley Fitts. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. By Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 167-87. Print.